Week 6: System Integration and APIs
1. Building and Consuming APIs:
- Lecture 1: Introduction to APIs (Application Programming Interfaces)
- Define what APIs are and why they are essential for system integration.
- Provide examples of APIs in everyday life.
- Lecture 2: API Components and Architecture
- Explore the key components of an API, including endpoints, requests, and responses.
- Discuss the client-server architecture of API interactions.
- Lab 1: Creating and Consuming a Simple API
- Build a basic API that serves data and develop a client application that consumes it.
- Use tools like Postman or cURL to make API requests.
2. RESTful API Design Principles:
- Lecture 3: Introduction to RESTful APIs
- Explain the principles of Representational State Transfer (REST) and its importance in web services.
- Compare REST to other API styles (e.g., SOAP).
- Lecture 4: RESTful Resource Design
- Discuss resource naming, URI structure, and HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE).
- Emphasize the importance of using nouns for resources.
- Lab 2: Designing a RESTful API
- Design the endpoints and resources for a RESTful API that manages a user database.
- Create a simple API documentation.
3. API Security and Authentication:
- Lecture 5: API Security Fundamentals
- Highlight common security threats to APIs, such as SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS).
- Explain the need for authentication and authorization.
- Lecture 6: Authentication Methods
- Explore various authentication methods, including API keys, OAuth, and JWT (JSON Web Tokens).
- Discuss the advantages and use cases for each method.
- Lab 3: Implementing API Authentication
- Secure your API by implementing authentication using JWT.
- Create a simple registration and login system for your API.
4. API Documentation and Versioning:
- Lecture 7: Importance of API Documentation
- Explain why well-documented APIs are crucial for developers and users.
- Showcase examples of good API documentation.
- Lecture 8: API Versioning
- Discuss the need for API versioning to ensure backward compatibility.
- Explore different versioning strategies, such as URI versioning and header versioning.
- Lab 4: Documenting and Versioning Your API
- Create comprehensive documentation for your API using tools like Swagger or Postman.
- Implement versioning for your API and demonstrate backward compatibility.
Homework Assignment:
- Analyze a public API of your choice (e.g., Twitter API, Google Maps API) and provide a report on its design, security measures, and documentation quality.
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